Ping is not a game.

We have choices: stay home or travel. We chose travel. We had choices: mix with the people, or go five-star guaranteeing a sizable financial commitment for comfort and isolation. We chose to mix.

Paris is a forty-five minute train ride to the Village of Versailles campground we chose as home base. Typical campground: Inexpensive individual campsites, community gathering spots bathrooms/showers, little store . . . . nothing special. Except for the people. Families who stayed here represented more than six countries. Adults couldn’t gather around the old wood stove chewing the fat with others unless they understood the languages. The Hirn-Fam was limited to English and Spanish.

Kids don’t need language to communicate. Who needs words when you’ve got a ball? Who needs an invitation when you’ve got a Ping Pong table? My kids joined right into the international competition. No translation is needed when you lob the ball over the net into enemy territory and it misses their paddle. You know! They know!

Colton and Trenton both wanted to give it their best for America!

Our kids taught us more on this trip than we ever taught them, because we lived each day from their perspective. Fear wasn’t a factor.

Even if you don’t get it at first, keep the conversation open!

And always join in for a moment of comic relief!

You have a choice: you can stay home or travel. But remember, unless you mingle with the masses, you are just playing a game of Ping. And Ping is not a game!

Step outside your comfort zone into adventure by choosing to interact with those who aren’t from your neck of the woods. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck in the world of 600-thread count sheets and down comforters, in a very lonely game of Ping.